Bridging Campus and Community

Over the span of four short years, all Lafayette students call Easton home. The impact in that home continues to grow, thanks in large part to Landis Center for Community Engagement. The recent restructuring of Landis Community Outreach Center and the Center for Community Engagement helped unify the College’s commitment to developing active citizens and student leaders in addition to conducting community-based learning and research.

The center takes its name from a foundational gift from Trustee Emeritus John W. ’39 and Muriel T. S. Landis made in 1999. Landis graduated summa cum laude, was valedictorian, and won the Pepper Prize, awarded annually to the senior who most closely represents the “Lafayette ideal.” He was the eldest of five brothers from Phillipsburg, N.J., who all earned degrees at Lafayette. Through their estate, John and Muriel continued their commitment to the local community through the Live Connected, Lead Change Campaign by augmenting the John W. and Muriel T. S. Landis Community Outreach Program Fund. Edwin C. Landis Jr. ’56 GP’13, the youngest of the Landis brothers, was on hand for merger ceremonies and remarked that his brother “would be proud to see all that the College continues to do.”